Fanning the Flames
by emily-jane4
Summary: An alternative outcome to CJ's briefing on Saudi Arabia in Enemies Foreign and Domestic.
1. Chapter 1

CJ knew as soon as she said it that it was a bad idea. She should never give personal opinions from the podium. That could only lead to trouble. But how could she live with herself if she said nothing. Returning to her office she was already anticipating the backlash that would follow her words. Yet she didn't regret what she had said. It was the truth and someone had to speak it if or nothing would ever change.

CJ had always been opinionated and had never shied away from the consequences of those opinions. Partly the reason she had this job was because she could go toe to toe with Toby or Leo or even the President if absolutely necessary. She told it like she saw it and they respected that and had (most days) accepted her into that boys club of theirs because of it.

She would take the anger of some sexist, hateful, woefully ignorant men if it meant she could exercise her right to speak her mind. Perhaps by doing so she could inspire even a few women in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qumar to do the same. If there was even the smallest chance she could use her position to ignite actual change in the lives of women living without freedom she would take whatever they could throw at her.

"Carol", she called out as she passed her "can you hold my calls for now, please. Especially those calls that pertain to Saudi Arabia, women's rights or me being the Spawn of Satan. That would be great."

"You got it, Boss. Good work in there."

CJ nodded at Carol, accepting the solidarity being offered to her by a fellow member of the Sisterhood. She sat down at her desk and returned to her regular workload, determined not to check her emails until at least the following morning.

She worked furiously all day, trying to work out her anger and frustration at the injustice of such an unnecessary loss of life. She tried to distract herself from the feeling of powerlessness that overcame her when she considered her inability to help those poor schoolgirls and all those in situations like them. She was also trying to avoid the other senior staff, not interested in discussing any possible consequences of her outburst right now. The fact that they hadn't sought her out spoke volumes. They would never say it but they agreed with her.

She had worked so hard that by seven pm she had nothing left to do. She knew she shouldn't, that it would just fuel the fire of anger burning inside her, but curiosity was getting the better of her so she clicked open her email. Scanning the subject lines she couldn't help but laugh. Did these people sending her messages really think that calling her names would change her mind or bring her around to their ways of thinking'. As they sat and typed these emails, most of which she wouldn't even bother to open, had they any idea how ridiculously weak and badly structured their arguments sounded.

Halfway down the page a blank subject box caught her attention. She clicked into the email, on the remote chance that it was actually work related. What she saw caused her breath to freeze in her chest for a moment.

BURN IN HELL BITCH. YOU KNOW NOTHING OF MY RELIGION. BUT I WILL TEACH YOU. YOU WILL DIE FOR WHAT YOU SAID TODAY.

For just one moment she sat frozen in fear. Quickly she realised how ridiculous she was being. It was easy to write a treat like this in an email. It was infinitely harder to follow through on it. She hit the x and closed down her computer for the night. CJ was done with this day. She was going home.

CJ felt slightly uneasy on her way home. She found herself glancing over her shoulder more times than usual, wondering just who was walking behind her. It rarely bothered her, how visible she was in her job and just how recognisable she was as she went about her life on her time off. Tonight, after reading her emails, she felt exposed and she wished she had driven to work instead of walking. Naive wasn't a word you would use to describe CJ Cregg. She had seen the email for what it was. A death threat. She had known as she spoke the words that caused this much hate to come her way that she would make some people angry. Yet she found it hard to believe that anyone would be angry enough to follow through on the threat she had received.

There was no need to tell anyone about it she told herself. It would just worry them for no reason. She would give this a few days to settle down and everything would go back to normal. But in the back of her mind she couldn't help but be reminded of this administrations previous encounter with fanatics and the devastating events of Roslyn when they had almost lost Josh to a hatred similar to what she had provoked today. She glanced over her shoulder once more, feeling ridiculously jumpy. Shaking off the feeling of someone watching her, CJ told herself she was being silly and let herself into her Georgetown home. She loved this house. It was her sanctuary and she never got to spend enough time here. She made a conscious decision to put the days' unpleasant events out of her mind and enjoy her evening off. Grabbing some wine from the fridge she went to run a bath, determined to have an early night.

Hours later she stirred in her sleep, wondering vaguely what had disturbed her. She started to cough and somewhere in her sleep soaked mind it registered with her that she was finding it difficult to breathe. She coughed again. Suddenly she was wide awake. She looked around her bedroom not believing what she was seeing. Flames engulfed the drapes and furniture by the window. Thick dark smoke was spreading around the room making the air heavy and toxic. She jumped out of bed and opened her bedroom door. To her horror and dismay more smoke filled the stairs. Without the light from the flames she couldn't see a thing. She felt her way down hugging the wall as panic filled her. Her throat burned and her eyes stung. She couldn't breathe. Her lungs screamed in protest at every smoky breath she inhaled. She needed to get out. She needed air. More flames filled her sitting room. They were spreading before her eyes, hungrily consuming everything in their path, gaining energy from destruction. Exhaustion was setting in. The heat was unbearable. She dropped to her knees and crawled. She could see the door; she just needed to go through it. She had to get outside to the cool clean air. She was suffocating. She tried to fight the blackness but it was too strong, too heavy. She passed out, just feet from the door, as the flames crept closer.


	2. Chapter 2

Leo jerked awake. The phone was ringing. Where was he? The office, at two in the morning. Great. He had fallen asleep on the couch while reading briefing books. It was an all too common occurrence these days. He debated whether to answer but he knew he would. Nobody would call at this time of the night if it wasn't important.

"Leo McGarry," he answered trying not to sound groggy.

"Mr McGarry. This is Detective Reagan with the DC Police. I'm afraid I have some bad news regarding a member of your staff."

Oh Lord. His heart beat faster as he encouraged the Detective to continue.

"There was a fire at Ms Cregg's home. Emergency services responded to a 911 call at 1.22am. They established that the occupant of the house was trapped inside. When they reached her she was non-responsive and wasn't breathing. Paramedics managed to revive her and she should be arriving by ambulance at GW around now. I'm sorry to tell you this sir, but her condition is critical."

Holy Hell. Claudia Jean. He was stunned.

"Any idea what caused the fire?"

"The fire-fighters are still working to put out the blaze but as soon as they give the go ahead there will be a full investigation. Early indications are suggesting that the fire was started deliberately. Is there anyone you know of sir, that would want to hurt Ms Cregg."

"This was arson?" Leo fumed into the phone. "You think someone deliberately set fire to the home of the White House Press Secretary? Detective I'm sending Secret Service to assist with this investigation and I will have them look through her mail and computer to establish who might have had a motive for this. I suggest you start checking any CCTV cameras. CJ made some remarks in a briefing yesterday that made quite a few people unhappy. I can't help but feel that this has something to do with her comments."

"Yes sir."

"I need to find out how she is. Keep me informed of any new developments. I don't need to tell you that this will get a lot of press attention. We can't have any leaks."

"Of course, Mr McGarry. The press will hear nothing of the investigation from us. I should warn you that there are already press setting up at the scene. We are keeping them well back but they know it is Ms Cregg's property that is on fire. You should expect this to break right about now if it hasn't already. "

After hanging up Leo immediately called Ron Butterfield. He instructed Ron to send a team of agents to CJ's house to investigate and also go through her correspondence to look for anyone who may have had a motive to do this. He also wanted the Secret Service to escort the rest of the senior staff to the White House. He needed to tell them what was going on and he also needed to make sure they weren't targeted as well.

Next he called GW and after being put on hold and shouting at some unfortunate nurses, he finally got a vague briefing on CJ's condition. She had minor burns to the arms and feet. More pressing was the smoke inhalation. They had sedated her and intubated her to protect her airway from swelling. However this meant that they would be unable to assess her for any brain damage that could have occurred while she was deprived of oxygen. Nobody knew how long she had stopped breathing for so the doctor had no idea how likely this scenario was. He told Leo that CJ was currently in a stable condition but that she would remain in ICU until they woke her which would not be for a couple of days.

Leo desperately wanted to go to the hospital. He felt sick at the thought of CJ lying in a hospital bed unconscious and alone. His blood boiled at the thought that someone had deliberately done this to her. But he had to remain at the White House to talk to senior staff and he also needed to tell the President. He called over to the residence and had a steward wake the President and First Lady and have them meet him in the Oval in ten minutes.

Senior Staff had arrived by the time the President and First Lady entered the Oval Office. Toby, Josh and Sam sat looking extremely dishevelled and confused. It wasn't the first time they had been dragged into work in the middle of the night but it was the first time they had been escorted to the White House by the Secret Service. Josh looked around the office as Leo began to speak. "Shouldn't we wait for CJ, Leo? You know she'll be pissed if she thinks she's being left out of the loop again."

Leo gave Josh a tortured look filled and continued to address the President.

"I'm sorry to wake you sir. I just received a phone call from a Detective Reagan from the DC Police. He had some bad news."

The President too had noticed his Press Secretaries conspicuous absence.

"CJ?"

"I'm afraid so, sir. There was a fire at her house. She's been rushed to GW hospital. The doctors have sedated her and intubated to protect her airway."

Abbey looked pale. She nodded to Leo that she understood the situation. She gripped the President's hand. Tell Ron I'm going to GW, Leo. You're all needed here. I'll go be with CJ."

"Abbey, we're not sure if it's safe."

"Why wouldn't it be safe Leo? Why were we brought here by the Secret Service? What is it you haven't told us yet?" Toby quizzed as he stood and started to pace the room.

"Detective Reagan suggested that the fire wasn't an accident. That CJ had been targeted and that this was an arson attack."

"My God." There was anger mixed with shock in the President's voice. "What evidence do they have Leo?"

They're still trying to put out the fire, Sir. It's is just conjecture at this point but the speed that the fire took hold of the building suggests that it wasn't an accident. Also the timing. CJ's briefing yesterday got a lot of attention."

"I'm going with the First Lady to the hospital." Toby announced.

"Toby the Press already have this. We need you here. We'll need to brief before the rumours get out of control and we don't have a Press Secretary."

"Leo, she's my oldest friend. I'm the reason she's here in the first place. I have to go see her. Sam can do the briefing. Somebody get Carol in here, we're going to need her. I'll help Sam with a statement over the phone."

"He should go. You too, Abbey. CJ is our priority right now, not the press."

"Go get your laptop Toby. We leave in five minutes."

"The rest of you, get to work. We need to know what the press already have so we can figure out how much to tell them." Leo tried to catch Josh's eye, worried about how this was affecting him but he avoided eye contact. Leo decided to give him time. He would call Donna and get her in early to keep an eye on Josh.

When the staff had left the First Lady turned to Leo. "Is there anything else you didn't mention about CJ's condition Leo? I need to be prepared when we get the hospital."

"Yes. She wasn't breathing when they found her, Abbey. They don't know how long she was out but the doctors are worried about brain damage."

He sighed heavily. It was the nightmare scenario. They had been lucky with Josh. They had suffered the loss of Mrs Landingham and now CJ was fighting for her life in hospital. How much more of this could they take? They needed her. Not just as Press Secretary but as a moral compass for the administration. Her wit, her kindness, and her compassion for others were a vital part of what they had built. He couldn't imagine working in the West Wing without her.

Abbey took a deep breath and stood. "I'm gonna go. I don't like to think of her there alone. And Toby will be going out of his mind with worry, I'm sure. I'll call as soon as I know any more Jed."

She left Leo and the President there, looking at each other, each with guilt ridden eyes. "This shouldn't happen Leo. Why does this keep happening?"

The only answer he got was silence.


End file.
